Return to Labyrinth, Volume Two Manga Review

Before I start the review, how about a quick Labyrinth refresher? Here we go: Once upon a time, in the world of humans, there was a girl named Sarah and her baby brother Toby. In very different world – the world of goblins – Jareth the Goblin King watched Sarah and her brother from afar. He fell in love with Sarah. He decided to kidnap Toby and lure Sarah into into his world, where they’d rule the Goblin Kingdom together. Jareth had to have Sarah by his side!

After Jareth kidnapped the child, he offered Sarah a challenge: solve the Labyrinth and save the child. While suffering through dangers unknown and hardships unnumbered, Sarah met an assortment of inhabitants of Labyrinth who helped her solve the Labyrinth. They fought to the castle beyond the Goblin city and were prepared to take Toby back. But when she finally found Toby…Jareth was there. Eventually, Sarah defeated him and rejected his love. Jareth’s plan failed and Sarah safely escaped with Toby.

Jareth was devastated from his loss. But he was patient. He waited, and watched Toby became a teenager. Then the Goblin King decided to make his move again. This time, he brought Toby into the goblin world but with a new twist. He would announce Toby as heir to the Goblin Thrown!

You might be thinking that I’ve lost it at this point. You might say “David, you’ve started writing Labyrinth fan fiction!”! But you’d be wrong and I’d say “It was my way of telling the story from the film and explaining how the new manga is tied into it”. Then we’d all laugh. Then we’d sing the ‘Dance, Magic, Dance’ song.

Now if you haven’t read my Return to Labyrinth Volume One review first, I suggest you check it out then come back here. It’s now time for sanity to return, so lets talk about volume two!

The manga

As an Ãœber-Fan of Labyrinth, I was pretty critical of the initial volume of the Return to Labyrinth manga series. There’s some good news this time – many of the things that bugged me have been improved or remedied. Overall, the art is better and the pacing is quicker. It’s beginning to feel more like the familiar Labyrinth world of the film, but it’s also new.

Story

Return to Labyrinth Volume 2 is pretty much ‘all about Toby’. He’s beginning to adjust to his new role as leader of the Goblin Kingdom. It turns out there’s a lot of bureaucracy involved! Toby also starts to learn magic from a new (cough*evil*cough) character, Mizumi, queen of the Moraine Kingdom. She’s a powerful sorceress whose past is directly linked with Jareth (but I won’t spoil it). Toby’s fate is now tied to Mizumi and Jareth, which creates all sorts of problems…most of which Toby doesn’t even know about! Meanwhile, there’s more mystery involving Moppet’s identity, some sword-fighting, goblins cooking gross stuff and other surprises.

Cover Art

The cover art is once again illustrated by Kouyu Shurei. Her stunningly-rich style has perfectly captured the relationship between icy-cold Mizumi, Queen of the Moraine Kingdom and Toby, the newly appointed ‘King of the Labyrinth’. The Wiseman is also prominently featured on the cover, which surprised me at first (I was expecting Jareth) but you’ll find out why once you read it. Unfortunately, Jareth the Goblin

Interior Art

Interior art duties are again handled by artist Chris Lie. This time around, Lie’s line work seems more crisp and focused. It feels like he’s a little more comfortable with the Labyrinth universe and he gets a lot more of the little things right than in volume one.

Characters

Last time I detailed a few character design likes/dislikes. Since this is volume two, I figured it would be neat to highlight a few things I’ve liked/disliked about certain characters rather than repeat the same stuff rather than specifically focusing on their design.

Likes

• Toby – Our main character. In volume one, I was shocked to see Toby as a teenager. Now that I’ve had some time to let my brain process that idea, I’m cool with it.
• Jareth The Goblin King – Jareth is (as usual) awesome.
• Mizumi, Queen of the Moraine Kingdom – She’s a rather neat addition to the cast and she helps us peer into Jareth’s past
• Sarah – After a rather disappointing appearance in volume one, Chris Lie makes up for it this time.
• Moppet – Even though several readers don’t like Moppet, I’ve liked her since she was introduced in the last volume. Her mask reminds me of the masquerade scene from the film, which was quite magical. She’s still a mystery (to me), but I’m sure she’ll be revealed as being pretty important to the story.
• The Wiseman – Perfect. There are even several funny gags with his bird-hat (just like the movie!)
• Spittledrum, the Goblin Mayor – He’s more relevant this time around, so I’m cool with him now too.

Dislikes
I don’t have so many dislikes this time around. The plot was well-paced and I really enjoyed the story. I still have a few for the list, though:

• Hoggle – He was essential to Sarah’s success in the Labyrinth. I’ve been nothing but disappointed in his manga characterization. Why is he essentially useless here?
• Mizumi’s daughters Moulin and Drumlin – While they serve a purpose (to torment Toby), I think they’re a little too cartoony for the Labyrinth universe. Plus, why do we need more humanoid people in the story?
• Hana and her trusty steed Stank – They don’t advance the plot much, since this story is pretty ‘Toby-centric’. Which is fine, but I’d really like to know if she’s gonna find here wings!
• Goblins – Maybe it’s just me, but does anyone else feel like some of the goblins would never fit in a world created by Jim Henson and Brian Froud? Many of them are too cartoon-like in appearance.

Conclusion

Overall, volume two of the Return to Labyrinth manga was very enjoyable. It was a real ‘page turner’ and I rather impressed with the plot. Since this part of the story didn’t have to re-introduce all of my favorite characters, I was able to enjoy it a lot more. My favorite scene was in the “Museum of Toby”. I think you’ll see what I mean.

Good news: Return to Labyrinth has been expanded from three to four volumes! There’s currently no set street-date for volume three, but I suspect that it will hit sometime next summer (2008).

Rating

Return to Labyrinth Manga Volume 2 gets 3 outta 4 gummies!

Additional Reading

Along the way, I stumbled upon a few cool items of interest for Labyrinth fans. There’s the usual Return to the Labyrinth at Tokyopop. But there’s also some pretty cool Labyrinth fanart:

• http://chrissydelk.deviantart.com/art/Labyrinth-Guest-Art-59799014
• http://owling-byrrd.deviantart.com/art/Strangers-For-Now-22952248
• http://owling-byrrd.deviantart.com/art/Within-You-22699366
• http://owling-byrrd.deviantart.com/art/Its-Only-Forever-22952143

If you’re obsessing over Labyrinth (like me), check out these places too:

• The original Labyrinth trailer
• Labyrinth creator Jim Henson
• Labyrinth concept designer Brian Froud’s website
• Wikipedia’s write-up of the Labyrinth film

So what did you think of Return to Labyrinth Volume 2?